Young Brothers

This morning I followed Alexis to Young Brothers; she was dropping the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center van off so it can be shipped back to Hawai'i Island. We arrived about 15 minutes early for her appointment to have the van inspected before it is loaded on the barge; it was busy! All total we spent about an hour there.

This is right at the entrance to the lane off of Makiki Heights Drive.

The entrance gate to the Division of Forestry and Wildlife compound.

The bunkhouse can be seen at the end of the road.

On our way in to the Young Brothers loading area.

Checking in at the gate.

I had wanted to pick up some treats at Minamoto Kitchoan for Alexis to take back for her mother & grandmother and for the folks at the Hawai'i Wildlife Center. But both stores were not open early enough for me to do it before I met Alexis, so we did it after we dropped off the van. I got the White Peach Mochi for HWC; Alexis thought her mom & grandmother would like the Ayashirabe Lemon. I also got Chocolate Mochi for The Roommates.

Before we went to Minamoto Kitchoan, we both needed a stop at the restroom; we had not expected dropping off the van at Young Brothers to take so long. When I first walked in and glanced over at the wash basins I thought the one I saw must be out of order because it was covered. It turns out every other one is covered as a subtle but effective means of providing physical distancing. It is probably more successful than marks on the floor showing people where to stand or a sign on the mirror above the wash basin; you have no choice in the matter. 

We stopped for lunch at Nico's Pier 38. They have changed a couple of things like floor markings so people know how far apart to stand, laminated menus, staff to get your order before you step up to the cashier to make the transaction faster, plexiglass at the cashier's station, signs at the soda machine saying a new cup was needed for each refill, and signing in for seating. The cashier didn't tell us about that last part so after we got our water, we just found a table and sat down; a guy came over almost immediately to tell us we couldn't sit at the table because there were 5 groups ahead of us. I let the host at where you sign in know that they needed to make sure the cashier told everyone about signing in for a table since not everyone has been there since they reopened with pandemic precautions. We ended up sitting outside by the entrance door; you didn't need to sign in for that. 

The view from our table. Apparently there are tables under the umbrellas that are also available.

Both of us had the Furikake Pan Seared Ahi. After lunch we had dessert; Alexis had peanut butter chocolate pie and I had the 5 High Chocolate Cake.

Furikake Pan Seared Ahi with extra salad, no rice.

Five High Chocolate Cake, my preferred carb.

Alexis is on her way to the Big Island for a few days before she goes back to New Hampshire winter weather. Today their high was 46 degrees F, the low was 25. It was 83 here and 70 last night.

While we were having lunch I received some photos of Toby's recent adventures on Whidbey Island and along the Washington & Oregon coast! Since Bruce provides few captions, I have made up the following travelogue of Toby's adventures by sorting through the digital trail of clues to figure out which photos came first. Enjoy! This part of their trip started in the Bellingham area where they camped for the night after finding a cute little sushi dog! They awoke to find frost on the ground and a somewhat overcast morning as they headed to Whidbey Island.

Monava searches for a dinner spot. (Photo by Bruce)

Toby is not too happy with dinner arrangements. (Photo by Bruce)

(Photo by Bruce)

Oh, boy! They're back! What do I get? (Photo by Bruce)

Clear sky at night. (Photo by Bruce)

The playground the next morning. (Photo by Bruce)

They traveled south to Whidbey Island which has a lot of state & national parks & historic forts. I think the photo he labeled as a stockade is at Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve and I am pretty sure the beach photo is of the Ebey's Landing trail which I have hiked before.

Ebey's Landing. (Photo by Bruce)

Stockade on Whidbey Island. (Photo by Bruce)

 

As they traveled along the coast they made a stop for lunch in the RV. Toby waited patiently for his lunch, too.

Lunch! (Photo by Bruce)

Lunch? (Photo by Bruce)

Is that for me? (Photo by Bruce)

I'll just keep an eye on things from here. (Photo by Bruce)

That was a good lunch! (Photo by /Bruce)

Bruce labelled these as being along the Oregon coast. I started the series with 2 photos taken in the rainforest adjacent to the coast. Then moved out to the sea stacks.

They are now in California, where Bruce sent me this photo of, "Chinese clay marbles may be from gold rush days". He did not say how he acquired them, whether they were found or bought. He reports that the RV is getting 18.7 mpg as they drive from Mt. Shasta through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, keeping physically distanced except when they have to go in to town for supplies. Kinda like the crusty old prospectors.

In case you're wondering, yes, I do like to occasionally sit around and watch a movie or video of some famous person with the sound off and make up my own story on what's going on. Sometimes it is a lot more enjoyable that way!

When I got home I found that my duplicate birth certificate had arrived! They had started processing it earlier than they said they would; 40 business days rather than 63 business days. (I am assuming they took Thanksgiving and the Friday after it off.) So I got it earlier than expected. Otherwise they would have started processing it on January 8, 2021; assuming they take Christmas & New Years off. So I got it a month earlier than I had been told when I 1st applied.

This is the paperwork, not the certificate itself.

The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes has been having intermittent headaches and feeling dizzy the last couple of days; he had also been feeling thirsty & drinking a lot of water and was concerned he had pre-diabetes. He had a tele-med call this morning, then I drove him in to see his doctor later in the afternoon; part of the problem appears to have been caused by a large amount of earwax! But his doctor also had a bunch of blood work done; some of the results came back before we got home and they were all normal. But the A1C results have not arrived yet.

We stopped by Kokua Market on the way back; The Roommate Who Likes to Wash Dishes said he would buy dinner for me since I drove him in to see his doctor and get his blood test. Although I picked up some Lamb Chili for dinner I was still full from lunch so I skipped dinner.

The Aix weather app forecast was for sun in Honolulu and drizzle in Kapaʻau. And it was rather sunny in Honolulu as seen in the lunch photo above. From the Tesla app it looked like it was sunny in the morning then clouded up and likely had some rain most of the afternoon.

 

The spread of COVID-19 has been affecting a lot of things; Thanksgiving has been a big spreader. And now it has shut down the World Surfing League competition that was due to start here soon.

There were 89 new COVID-19 cases reported today, the total number of known cases in the state is now 18,951. There was 1 new death reported bringing the number of fatalities up to 269; there are currently 1179 active cases. The 7-day average of new cases on Oʻahu is 64 with a 1.9% positivity rate. 

Hau'oli lā Hànau e Seth & Carlo!